• Created on 1/12/12 by Melanie Mayo

Photocredit: Wikimedia. We are learning more and more information all the time to support the idea that a good start to breastfeeding makes all the difference for meeting your long term breastfeeding goals.  Your baby needs to empty and stimulate your breasts several times a day in the early weeks to enable you to produce enough milk to meet his needs not only now but over the long term.  Many mothers find breastfeeding straightforward, but others struggle and often this can be prevented. So here are some ideas for getting breastfeeding off to... read more

• Created on 12/20/09 by emilyfrischmann

By Laura Schmitt "I wish I could just wrap myself in the softness of my child's diapers!" That's something you've never heard a parent say-unless that parent uses cloth diapers for the child. Shortly after my first baby was conceived, I became obsessed with finding the best cloth diaper for my money. I no longer concerned myself with events of the day. My prenatal yoga tapes gathered dust as I scrolled through endless websites, absorbing every bit of data ever posted about cloth diapers. I became fascinated with prefolds, fitteds, covers, wraps-you name it. I... read more

• Created on 6/24/12 by Mothering Editorial

By Sundae HornIssue 109, November/December 2001 Recently I read a sweet little how-to article about nursing discreetly in public. It offered all manner of well-meaning and socially acceptable advice, the gist of which was to make sure the breast never sees the light of day. The key to success is keeping covered. If all is done carefully, the article suggested, no one except mother and baby need know that breastfeeding is taking place. This seemingly reasonable advice is offensive to me. I want people to know that breastfeeding is happening. I'm proud to say I have... read more

• Created on 2/6/11 by Jennifer Margulis

Although I wanted a baby my whole life, I felt totally overwhelmed when my first was born. I didn’t have trouble bonding with her but I did have trouble with everything else. Twenty-nine years old, I was a fiercely independent Type A graduate-student-turned professor used to having boundless energy who thought she could do it all. I was sore and upset from a difficult hospital birth. We had very few friends with kids. I didn’t know it was okay to accept—let alone ask for—help. When my friend Veronique and her mother offered to bring over food, I was too embarrassed to... read more

• Created on 7/4/12 by Melanie Mayo

By Christine Gross-Loh Issue 113, July/August 2002 My son Benjamin, almost eight months old, has ridden in a stroller perhaps only five times in his life. Instead, he has spent his days snuggled up to me in a variety of baby carriers. When he was just 12 hours old, we put him in a New Native Baby Carrier. As Benjamin grew bigger, we tried a number of things-adjustable slings, a Japanese hip carrier, the ubiquitous Baby Bjorn, a Baby Trekker soft backpack, a fleece sling, the Sara's Ride hip carrier, a Tough Traveler frame backpack, and a Korean blanket carrier... read more

• Created on 6/11/12 by Mothering Editorial

By Karen Plomp Web Exclusive You are nursing HOW many? Are you STILL nursing? Yes, I'm still nursing the baby-and my two year old, three year old, and four year old! I'm tandem nursing four siblings. It is just the way things worked out, because I had my babies close together, and I am letting them self-wean. Actually, it's not that big a deal, and not very different from tandem nursing just two. Nursing older kids isn't the same as nursing babies. They don't nurse as frequently, and they can wait a while if the location or time is not convenient for... read more

• Created on 4/29/13 by JenniO11

brought to us by Mothering sponsor Boba   Thoughtful Design Bests Babywearing Challenges It’s no secret that babywearing is the most natural choice for baby’s physical, emotional, and social development—but that doesn’t mean it always comes naturally. When choosing a baby carrier, it’s important to understand what growing babies need and how you can best support them.    Unfortunately, some baby carrier manufacturers have not thought through babies physiological development, and their poor designs can have unintended consequences. Luckily, carriers like... read more

• Created on 10/2/12 by Melanie Mayo

Until the early part of this century, mothers didn’t give a thought as to how to feed their babies. All babies were breastfed, if not by the mother herself, then by a wet nurse: a lactating woman who breastfed the child for the mother. Then along came formula, which provided a viable feeding alternative for women and babies physically incapable of breastfeeding and for infants without a mother. Yet the availability of formula has created a complex dilemma for women all over the world. Experts today are unanimous in their support of breastfeeding as the hands-down... read more

• Created on 10/12/11 by Mothering Editorial

By Patricia G. Blomme Issue 129 March/April 2005 I have been blessed in my lifetime—I have had the pleasure of placing five children to my breast. That singular term, breast, is very accurate. Four of my children have benefited from my having nursed them to the best of my abilities as long as I could.  My breastfeeding tale is fairly unremarkable compared to those of other breastfeeding mothers, who have tried and, with difficulty and lack of knowledge, eventually succeeded in fully nourishing their babies at their breasts. My situation is different—I am a unilateral... read more

• Created on 3/30/12 by Mothering Editorial

By Liz Laing Issue 133, November/December 2005 Acne Treatment and Facial Cleanser Wash face with a mild soap, rinse, and gently pat a breastmilk-saturated ball of cotton (not a synthetic material) over the entire face. This process is great for removing eye makeup as well. Burns and Sunburn Apply breastmilk gingerly to burns and they will dry up and look much better the next day. A burn treated with breastmilk and mashed-up blueberries will dry up within an hour, wrote one mom on a Midwifery Today online forum.1 Elena Michaels, PhD, CCH, LMFT, a traditional... read more